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Bush, who runs a political action committee focused on Hispanic outreach, said the GOP must be proactive in engaging those voters in upcoming elections.

“Self-deportation or however you want to spin it is not attractive to Hispanics, Latinos or anyone, for that matter,” he said. “We need to focus on the immigration issue as it relates to building our economy, taking advantage of the American secret sauce and really using this as — first of all, to get this out of the way politically, but to really help our country out.”

But Bush also expressed hope for the party, saying that the GOP has more Hispanic governors and senators than the Democratic Party does. He cited leaders including Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Sen.-elect Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Gov. Susana Martinez (R-N.M.).

“But we really have to work on our ground game, we have to work on our messaging,” he said. “In 2004…George W. showed you can be successful with Hispanics and be a Republican. He showed up in Hispanic communities, he spoke a little Spanish.”

While Gov. Romney and Sen. John McCain were less successful with Hispanic voters in the last two elections, Bush was optimistic about the next cycle.

“I think in 2016, we’ll hopefully have a candidate that certainly focuses on that,” he added.

He also weighed in on an interview Rubio gave to GQ magazine, in which the Florida senator did not provide a direct response when asked how old he thinks the Earth is.

That, Bush said, was “a strange question and I guess kind of a head-scratching type of answer.”

”Going back to the Republican Party and how we shape the tone, we have to be kind of a pro-science and pro-technology party. I think Marco Rubio is just that,” he continued. “We also can’t forget about our traditional values, things like faith, family. And Sen. Rubio represents that. On the Earth question, I guess I’ll have to read more closely in terms of getting a better understanding. Kind of a strange response, I guess.”

The Republicans always point to Marco Rubio as a Hispanic leader for the GOP. He's an empty suit that talks the same old, tired GOP lines. He was a lousy House speaker for Florida and now he's a marginal Senator. And instead of working on messaging, why doesn't the GOP start looking for a clue?. They lost because they are anti-labor, anti-woman, anti-Obama and have nothing to offer. Jeb, Jr. would be wise to start addressing the GOP's major problems rather than promoting his father. I am a strong Democrat but I believe that we need to strong parties to make our government effective.

The Republicans always point to Marco Rubio as a Hispanic leader for the GOP. He's an empty suit that talks the same old, tired GOP lines. He was a lousy House speaker for Florida and now he's a marginal Senator. And instead of working on messaging, why doesn't the GOP start looking for a clue?. They lost because they are anti-labor, anti-woman, anti-Obama and have nothing to offer. Jeb, Jr. would be wise to start addressing the GOP's major problems rather than promoting his father. I am a strong Democrat but I believe that we need to strong parties to make our government effective.

Jeb Bush will make a fine president. He will have a tough job cleaning up after the president that is in office now. It will be refreshing to have a real patriot in the oval office after eight years of deficit spending, debt increasing, job killing, hatred of the constitution, ineffectiveness that we are saddled with now. Jeb Bush understands the economy, working with those of the other party, and really understands people and what they are suffering through. He will lead us back to prosperity. Go Jeb.

Translation: We need to figure out how to trick more brown people into voting against their own interests.

Good luck with that.

And it's not a strange question to ask a republican how old the earth is. We are trying to figure out if you are a crazy christian fundie or not. When you say, "I'm not a scientist" then we know you are.

Re: ”Going back to the Republican Party and how we shape the tone, we have to be kind of a pro-science and pro-technology party. I think Marco Rubio is just that,”

Hee, hee, ha, ha, Marco Rubio, in answer to a question on how old is the Earth, said "I'm not a scientist, man." That should tell you how much he thinks of science and how he is, a couple of weeks after the election, already PANDERING, right off the bat to the BATTY right-wing.

Get a grip, Jeb Bush, Jr. You guys will never win until you dehook yourselves from the right-wing extremists.

All the GOP has is retreads, and the thing about retreads in the GOP is.........that dog can't hunt!

Keep putting retreads on your 1900 Model T as it tries to rev up next to a political Ferrari F-50 the DNC is riding in.

The followers of the GOP are in such mass psychosis, you can tell them that Yosemite Sam is strong on defense and is a straight talker, and the already fleeced and suckered following of the party starts to salivate wit the ease of Pavlov's dog.

Maybe the GOP should focus on doing their part in governing for a little while and worry about the next election later. One of their biggest problems is they have no platform aside from standing in the way. Actually get in the trenches and do some work instead of running a campaign 365 days a year.

progressivepants: "Maybe the GOP should focus on doing their part in governing for a little while and worry about the next election later. One of their biggest problems is they have no platform aside from standing in the way. Actually get in the trenches and do some work instead of running a campaign 365 days a year."........................................................I agree with sentences one and three. Both parties would do well to observe them. Sentence two reflects either ignorance of the platform, or disagreement, and neither of those means the platform doesn't exist.

Latino are not monolithic. Palin or Rubio won't fool the smart people and Again the trojan horse party has no ideas to offer just how to refame their message to try and fool more people. Like in the story the Emperors New Cloths the *** is up. The majority of american people realise th repub party doesn't really care about them and are only conserned with power and the 1%ers.

humbolt I nkow the offical platofrm exists but in the last few years there's been almsot no attempts to actually apply it. When they got the House in 2010 the GOP has passed a ton of bills that are little more than symbolic gestures. They held our countries credit hostage to scroe a few politcal points. They keep attaching defunding planned parenthood to things to make them unpassable. they have voted several times to repeal Obamacare for no reason. At some point they need to realize that they don't control the government and they need to work with the Dems to get things done. Like Obamacare is the law of the land bu tit's a pretty inperfect one. If the GOP came to the table willing to deal it could be improved signifiacntly. And they could probably wring out a bunch of coservative concessions like Tort reform out of the process too. But the current GOP seems so bitter about not being in power they just want to take their ball and go home.

And Rubio knows the answer. You simply cannot be a rational human being who reads (or even listens) just a bit to know that the earth is billions of years old. Rubio knows that Republican primary voters either don't believe that, or don't want to believe it. And if he gives the correct answer, that could stop his career in its tracks.

So he equivocates, hoping to keep support among the anti-science Republican base without appearing to be a total idiot.

The Republican stars are now Rubio and Rand Paul -- and Paul will have to answer as to why he believes that restaurant owners should be allowed to discriminate against black customers.

Bad policies, bad messangers. Amazing these people get elected, and at the same time encouraging that the GOP brand is so damaged.

progressivepants: " they have voted several times to repeal Obamacare for no reason."...............................The chief reason to vote against such things is that we can't afford them, and that's reason enough. I do agree that in order to get some things done which truly do need to be done, it would be better if both parties would work together. I also agree that the GOP has run rotten campaigns in the past two national elections, and they're beside themselves ruminating and casting about over things of their own making. Romney was not a bad candidate, but the campaign was just awful, and it wasn't from a shortage of ideas. The GOP knows as much about marketing and appeal as they know about calculating a satellite earth orbit. They owe the public at large a better effort.